Textuality and worldliness: Crossing the boundaries

A Postmodernist Reading of Achebe, Conrad and Lessing

Abstract

In its oppositional discourse postmodernism emphasises, among other things, the need for an incisive critique of the excesses to which an unqualified belief in reason has led. This need opens up a space for responses to literature such as Chinua Achebe's reading of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, in which he accuses the author of being a NAZI type of racist, guilty of the dehumanization of Africa and the setting of men against each other. Achebe's "hard look at Conrad" is firstly placed within the postmodernistic framework of Said's theory of culture by means of an investigation of the complexity of the relationship between the text and the world in Conrad's novel; and then within the wider context of texts by non-African writers, such as Doris Lessing, who have made different kinds of use of African space.

Opsomming
Postmodernisme se opposisionele diskoers beklemtoon o.a. die noodsaak vir 'n indrin­gende kritiek van die oordadigheid waartoe 'n ongekwalifiseerde geloof in die rede lei. Hierdie behoefte skep 'n ruimte vir Chinua Achebe se soort radikale interpretasie van Joseph Conrad se Heart of Darkness, waarin hy die outeur beskuldig van 'n soort NAZl­rassisme, wat verantwoordelik is vir die dehumanisering van Afrika en die opsweep van mens teen mens. Achebe se krasse benadering tot Conrad word in die eerste plek binne die postmodernistiese raamwerk van Said se kultuurteorie geplaas d.m.v. 'n ondersoek van die komplekse verhouding tussen die teks en die wereld in Conrad se roman, waarna dit benader word binne die breer konteks van tekste deur nie-Afrika skrywers, soos Doris Lessing, deur wie Afrika-ruimte op verskillende maniere gebruik word.